The French-Iranian writer and cartoonist Marjane Satrapiauthor, among other works, of the popular Persepolis, has received the Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities in 2024 , the second award of this edition that is announced, after the one for Arts, which went directly to Joan Manuel Serrat. Last year the winner was Italian philosopher Nuccio Ordine who died a few months after receiving it.

The family of Satrapi (Rasht, 1969) sent her daughter out of Iran years after the 1979 Revolution: young Marjane finished her studies at the French Lyceum in Vieja (Austria), but then returned to Tehran to study at the school of Fine Arts. In 1994, before graduating, she moved to France, where she entered the Strasbourg School of Decorative Arts.

According to specialists, Marjane Satrapi is one of the most prominent figures in international comics.author of what for many is one of the best graphic novels ever published: Persepolis. This graphic work is an autobiographical account of his childhood and adolescence in an Iran going through a revolution that changed everything. In 2007, he brought his particular story of the fight against religious fundamentalism to the cinema, becoming nominated for best animated film at the Oscars.

Persepolis He also won the Prix de Lyon in 2000; the Angoulême awards for new author and best script in 2001 and 2002, respectively; the Fernando Buesa Blanco peace prize in 2003 and the Harvey for best foreign work in 2004. The film adaptation also won the Grand Critics’ Prize at the Cannes festival in 2007.

From her story in ‘Persepolis’ to that of Marie Curie, in ‘Radioactive’

In addition to the different volumes of Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi is behind many other worksamong which stand Embroideryanother graphic novel that collects the everyday conversations and the stories that the women in his family share between them, or Chicken with plums, which was also adapted to film, in 2011. Satrapi has also directed the films The Jotas gang (2013), The voices (2015) or Radioactive (2020), the latter a biography about the scientist Marie Curie.

Among all his artsSatrapi also excels in painting and has even designed a special tapestry, commissioned by National Furniture of France, for the Paris Olympic Games. She is Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters in France, an honorary doctorate from the Belgian universities UC Louvain and KU Leuven and in 2024 she was elected member of the French Academy of Fine Arts.

The Princess of Asturias of Communication and Humanities

Every year, over several weeks, the different winners are announced, although the ceremony official, in Oviedo (Asturias), is celebrated in the month of October. The Princess of Asturias are awards that have been awarded for more than four decades and, specifically, the Communication and Humanities award is granted to a person, group or institution whose creative or research work represents an relevant contribution to universal culture in those fields. These are all those who have received the Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities throughout history:

  • 2024: Marjane Satrapi
  • 2023: Nuccio Ordine
  • 2022: Adam Michnik
  • 2021:Gloria Steinem
  • 2020: Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL) and Hay Festival of Literature & Arts
  • 2019: National Prado Museum
  • 2018: Alma Guillermoprieto
  • 2017: Les Luthiers
  • 2016: James Nachtwey
  • 2015: Emilio Lledó
  • 2014: Cinchona
  • 2013: Annie Leibovitz
  • 2012: Shigeru Miyamoto
  • 2011: The Royal Society
  • 2010: Alain Tourane and Zygmunt Baumant
  • 2009: National Autonomous University of Mexico
  • 2008: Google
  • 2007: Science and Nature Magazines
  • 2006: National Geography Society
  • 2005: Alliance Française, Società Dante Alighieri, British Council, Goethe Institut, Instituto Cervantes and Instituto Camões
  • 2004: Jean-Daniel
  • 2003: Ryszard Kapuscinsky and Gustavo Gutiérrez Merino
  • 2002: Hans Magnus Enzensberger
  • 2001: George Steiner
  • 2000: Umberto Eco
  • 1999: Caro and Cuervo Institute
  • 1998: Reinhard Mohn
  • 1997: Václav Havel and Cable News Network (CNN)
  • nineteen ninety six: Indro Montanelli and Julián Marías Aguilera
  • nineteen ninety five: EFE Agency and José Luis López Aranguren
  • 1994: Spanish Missions in Rwanda and Burundi
  • 1993: Magazine Lap
  • 1992: Emilio García Gómez
  • 1991: Luis María Anson
  • 1990: José Simeón Cañas Cemtroamericana University
  • 1989: PEdro Laín Entralgo and Economic Culture Fund of Mexico
  • 1988: Horacio Saenz Guerrero
  • 1987: Diary The viewer and diary Time (Colombia)
  • 1986: Globe Communication Group
  • 1985: José Ferrater Mora
  • 1984: Claudio Sánchez Albornoz
  • 1983: Diary The country
  • 1982: Mario Bunge
  • 1981: Maria Zambrano